DC's Top 5 Soap Opera Newcomers of 2012

No. 5: Robert Adamson, The Young and the Restless

From the moment we were reintroduced to sexy Lincoln Heights star Robert Adamson on Nick-at-Nite's premiere nighttime soap Hollywood Heights, we started wishing the new brass at The Young and the Restless (Who happened to be his HH bosses Jill Farren Phelps and Josh Griffith!)would cast him as lookalike Joshua Morrow's son Noah Newman. As CBS Daytime Chief Angelica McDaniel tweeted to @dcconfidential ahead of Adamson's casting news breaking, "sometimes wishes come true." Indeed they do!

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No. 4: Tequan Richmond, General Hospital

The Young and the Restless hunk Robert Adamson wasn't the only soap newcomer we wished casting directors would take notice of in 2012. When word leaked General Hospital was in the market for a new TJ, Everybody Hates Chris cutie Tequan Richmond was the first thesp to pop into our minds!

The 19-year-old actor and rapper has crazy chemistry with equally-adorable Haley Pullos, who plays his gal pal Molly Lansing Davis. With TJ and Molly having survived Port Charles water supply being poisoned, and now interning at Manning Enterprises, we bet Richmond will have a chance to exhibit even more swagger in 2013!

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No 3: Blake Hood, The Young and the Restless

There's always a certain amount of pressure that goes along with casting a legacy character. If the casting peeps at The Young and the Restless had picked the wrong actor to play the role of cosmetics heir Kyle Abbott, they would have quickly gone from TPTB (The Powers That Be) to TIIC (The Idiots In Charge).

While Y&R made plenty of mistakes in 2012, hiring Blake Hood wasn't one of them. Gorgeous, ripped to forever, and actually talented, Hood is the perfect young actor to represent the next generation of Abbotts. We just hope Y&R gives him plenty to do in 2013, since primetime shows like Vampire Diaries have also realized this kid is money in the bank — and we aren't taking about the Genoa City sperm bank either!

No. 2: Erik Valdez, General Hospital

Not many newbie actors could pull off portraying the long-lost son of a fashionista's alternate personality. General Hospital newcomer Erik Valdez did his best to accomplish said feat in 2012.

Being saddled with several storylines that absolutely didn't work in 2012 (Mob Princess, Connie/Kate), on an otherwise wonderfully-rejuvenated GH, Valdez still managed to give Trey Mitchell Scully heart and root factor. We just wish TPTB had ditched his relationship with a poorly recast Kristina (Lindsay Morgan) in favor of a triangle with Starr (Kristen Alderson) and Michael (Chad Duell). It just might have made the difference.

No. 1: Hunter Haley King, The Young and the Restless

Is her name Hunter, or is it Haley? Child, who are you asking? Whatever she calls herself, Ms. King has provided a dose of much-need, angsty teen spirit on The Young and the Restless.

As Summer, the daughter of town prince Nick Newman (Joshua Morrow) and slightly-sociopathic sex kitten Phyllis Summers (Michelle Stafford), King took over an integral role in the Genoa City mythology. The Hollywood Heights alum has impressed from day one, transforming Summer from a vapid, little nothing into a pretty little liar.

While we're not wowed by the teen bullying storyline she's currently featured in, King shines whenever Summer gets to dine at the grown-up table. Don't believe us? Just watch a scene of her opposite Chelsea (Melissa Claire Egan), as Summer wrestles with the guilt of having caused her estranged aunt to lose her baby, and try not to feel something.